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My Yamaha soprano is a 62 and marked as such . . . it has a fixed straight neck, is silver-plated, and I bought it new in late 1990 (or early 1991 - I don't recall the exact date) by calling a store in the mid-west who sold (and discounted) new Yamaha saxophones. It was the top-of-the-line model then. I bought it before Yamaha came out with their dual-neck models. I recall that after I bought it, a store I frequented showed me the latest model (I recall it was called a "Custom") and claimed it was an upgrade to the 62 because it had a tube that was all one piece and not soldered down the middle, as were the 62's (as the store personnel described to me). DAVE
 
Very interesting. So its a one-piece YSS-62, last year of production, no purple logo, and the low C# tonehole had migrated to the top. Learn something new every day!


EDIT: typo/brainfart, I mean C# migrated to the bottom
 
No, the low C# had migrated to the underside, in-line with the low B and low Bb pad cups, much like a MKVI except on the MKVI they are in-line on the top side of the tube (and like most modern sopranos being made today, like Yanagisawa and Yamaha, and Selmers, with all three bell pads below the tube's midline). I suspect you meant to write "migrated to the bottom". Like I wrote before, the left-pinky table on my 62 seems to be the more modern tilting design, which is different than the two 62's you displayed on that neat video. DAVE
 
Matt and Dave, I can throw some info in here.

I have a YSS 62 SN 33xx like the ones in Matt's video. Now here's what I think is the interesting bit. When I bought my 62, I had two second hand ones on trial, the one I bought, and a much later purple logo 62. I have a friend who has a YSS61, and on close inspection at the time I noticed that the tone hole placement (ie the C# key on the top) AND the neck flair of the early 62 was the same as the 61. If you compare a later 62 to an early 62 or a 61 you'll see that the neck flair is much more pronounced on the later 62's. This led me to the conclusion that the early 62's had the same body and tone hole placement as a 61, and at some point in the run they changed the body tube, tone hole placement, and made some modifications to the key work. To me, the later 62's have a slightly bigger and brighter sound but at the expense some of the sweetness which I found in the 61 and early 62.
 
Thanks, Mike. I have not had the opportunity to play many of these models except for the one I tried in Vancouver, B.C., and then the one I bought later that year. And, it wasn't side by side.

By "neck flair", are you writing about the step in the neck we usually see in most modern sops? It is obvious that Yamaha changed SOMETHING in the late model run of the 62 soprano, but to what extent and for what reasons are a mystery to me.

Mine, regardless of the placement of the low C# tone hole was a good horn, though. I just tired of the sound (not to re-open THAT can of worms) and so I moved on to Selmer, then Yanagisawa, but during this period of indecision, I still had a neat Buescher TT. I'm happy now with my soprano battery.

Sorry to take this thread in a different direction, but some of it may apply to the original question about the 62 in general. DAVE
 
Dave, yes I'm talking about the 'step' in the neck - much more noticeable / pronounced / bigger on the later 62's. No idea when they changed the design, but I thought it interesting that my early 62 seems identical, apart from the key work, to a 61.
 
I have a 62 and a 62R here. Both have purple logos. The 62 has a 4 digit large font serial, with the C# on top of the body top. The 62R has a 6 digit small font serial number, and the C# is on the side next to the low B.

They both have fresh pads I have installed with the same flat metal resonators and same pads and same key heights. Based upon a close visual inspection, the tonehole locations (save low C#) and body tube look alike. I played them both side by side for a good long while, switching back and forth. They seem extremely similar. The 62R is noticeably more comfortable. But besides that, they both sound and play like the same model, just two different individual saxophones.
 
The earlier 4 digit 62's had the C# on top of the tube. The later 62's 5 and 6 digit had C# in lin with Bb. I found the earlier horns felt a bit heavier (but I never weighed one) and I prefer the tone on the earlier 62's as it was more mellow and fuller.
62 vs 62R- I've always found the had a 62R darker and more mellow tone. The straight neck is definitely a brighter horn.
 
Got curious, so I weighed them. Earlier one, the 62, is 1240 grams. Later one, the 62R, is 1270 grams. The difference is about the weight of a hard rubber tenor mouthpiece, which considering they have the same pads/resos and the same guy did the work in the same way the difference should mostly be in the horn- probably a good portion of it in the arm coming off the low B that holds down the low C#, which does not exist on the earlier horn with the C# on top (mechanism is different and does not use an arm). I wish I had a later 62 done up the same I could weigh. Bet it would weigh the same as the later horn, the 62R.
 
Dirty Dave: Thanks for the link. I knew they'd done that (see earlier posts) - in fact, my YSS62S has the low C# inline with low B and Bb. I suppose from a technician's and engineer's perspective, that was a good change, but like I said before, the stickiness associated with a closed tone-hole on the underside of the horn seems problematic to me. Oh well, it is what it is, eh? DAVE
 
They changed the top of the body location low C# when they ran out of 61's bodies. Break in models must be around serial 10k or so. I have a customer that bought his YSS 62 new in the early 80's and it's the purple logo version/top body mount low C tonehole. this must have changed due to the fact that the keywork involved in the low B / low C# articulation is sometwhat flimsy and unreliable on those earlier horns. The regulating screw is a tiny size (same as them stacks regulators) and presses on the back of the C# arm at a location that it's sort of weird. The later design has a separated arm with the more sensible engineered large regulator and better leverage angle.

I also have a customer with a earlier 62R and while it's a purple logo I think it may have the low C# in line with the Bb1-B1 tone holes. I'll investigate.
 
Has no one else noticed any variation in the size of the neck flair? I'm pretty certain that I haven't imagined that. I know someone here with a later YSS 62R. I could try to take a good picture of the flair on both my 62 and his 62R to compare if anyone's interested.......
 
by flair you mean the "necking" mark clearly visible around the 2nd post of the octave mechanism? Yes it is different, as you state, the 61 and early 62's built on that tube has a more pronounced step while later sopranos have a gradual change in taper at around the same region.
 
It's hard to photograph this area and have it look anything like it does in real life, but here goes.

purple logo 62, 3xxx serial:


purple logo 62R, 011xxx serial:
 
Yes, it is very hard to see those sort of differences in a photo, but I would say (also knowing what they look like in real life) that the flair/step - whatever you want to call it, is more pronounced on the later 62 than the earlier one. I also think it's somehow less obvious, or more difficult to see, when the whole neck is bent. Thanks for having a go at taking a good photo Matt. I don't think I could do any better, so you've saved me the bother! :)
 
Discussion starter · #40 ·
Allo guys
Well after all these months that I have been on my old 62 Purple Lable,I am still amazed by it every day I play it,it is just beautiful sounding horn.
Never looked back on my 675,to me the 62 is a far better horn!
This is my third soprano,and I love this one.
The sound is so vibrant,rich and so easy to play in the high register,which I had a hard time with my 675 .
What is also great is a one piece straight neck horn,just fantastic.
All the best
Saxobari
 
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